Does delayed diagnosis or scrotal incision affect outcome for men with non-seminomatous germ cell tumours?

To ascertain whether delayed diagnosis or type of orchidectomy affected outcome for men with non-seminomatous germ cell tumours (NSGCT).

The case notes of 454 men resident in the west of Scotland with a diagnosis of NSGCT between 1975 and 1989 were retrospectively reviewed. The clinical record was available for 442 (97%) and included information on time to diagnosis in 92% and diagnostic surgery in 97%. The study end-point for orchidectomy was loco-regional recurrence and for diagnostic delay was survival.

A significant minority of men (10.4%) underwent a scrotal orchidectomy or had a scrotal incision before an inguinal orchidectomy (9.4%). More scrotal incisions were performed on patients under the care of general surgeons (28%) than of urologists (12.1%). Of the men who had scrotal surgery, one of 78 (1.3%; 95% CI, 0-4%) developed loco-regional disease as the initial site of recurrence, compared with none of 318 men undergoing inguinal orchidectomy. The median time to diagnosis was 3 months. There was no relationship between time to diagnosis and tumour extent at presentation. A diagnostic delay of > 3 months was associated with inferior survival in univariate analysis, but delayed diagnosis was not an independent influence on survival after adjustment for the major prognostic factors--tumour extent, year of diagnosis and treatment unit.

These results suggest that scrotal incision is unlikely to affect the risk of loco-regional recurrence and that effective cytotoxic therapy has probably reduced the prognostic importance of delayed diagnosis on survival of men with NSGCT.